Malin, Team USA Crowned Kings of Magic

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Congratulations to Antti Malin and the U.S. National Team, your 2008 Magic World Champions. Randy Buehler and Brian David-Marshall recap the full weekend from Memphis, including a quick chat with Malin just minutes after his victory.

Finland’s Antti Malin and the U.S. team of Michael Jacob, Sam Black, and Paul Cheon are your 2008 World Champions!

Malin and his Faeries deck defeated a resurgent Jamie Parke and his Five-Color Control in the finals to take home the World Champion trophy and the $45,000 first prize. Malin defeated Akira Asahara and Hannes Kerem en route to his first major championship.

Team USA captured the team title on the backs of wins by Black and Cheon in the Team Finals. Black defeated Rookie of the Year Aaron Nicastri in the Extended matchup, while Cheon outlasted Justin Cheung a the Legacy duel featuring an epic Standstill that finally cracked in Cheon’s favor. That win rendered the outcome of the Standard matchup between Jacob and Brandon Lau moot in the best-of-three Finals.

That’s not all the hardware that was handed out over the weekend. Shuhei Nakamura fended off all challengers to win the 2008 Player of the Year trophy, and the Pro Tour Hall of Fame inducted its five newest members: Dirk Baberowski, Mike Turian, Jelger Wiegersma, Olivier Ruel, and Ben Rubin. Nicastri’s 17th-place finish in the individual standings and runner-up status in the team competition cemented his Rookie of the Year, culminating a mad dash around the world for Pro Points that started back when he won the Australia National Championship.

Congratulations to all the champions crowned this weekend in Memphis. As the curtain comes down on this 2008 Pro Tour season, all we have to say is thank you...thank you very much.

See you in Kyoto!

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Champion

1

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa

Jamie Parke, 3-2

8

Jamie Parke

Jamie Parke, 3-0

4

Frank Karsten

Tsuyoshi Ikeda, 3-0

Antti Malin, 3-1

5

Tsuyoshi Ikeda

2

Antti Malin

Antti Malin, 3-1

7

Akira Asahara

Antti Malin, 3-2

3

Kenji Tsumura

Hannes Kerem, 3-2

6

Hannes Kerem

National Team Semifinal

National Team Final

Team Champion

1

Brazil

Australia, 3-0

4

Australia

United States, 2-0

2

Japan

United States, 2-1

3

United States

Last Updated: Saturday, 7:35 p.m.

Last Updated: Saturday, 9:30 p.m.

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